Global air cargo market demand rose 11% year on year in March, driven by the ‘Red Sea crisis’, garments and surging eCommerce demand and with Q1 2024 capacity growing at a slower rate of 8% pressure on rates is getting stronger. Airfreight spot rates would typically soften at this time of year, as the reintroduction of passenger flights adds significant amounts of belly-hold airfreight capacity, but sustained high demand at some origins are actually pushing rates up. Key global regions including the Asia Pacific, Middle East and South Asia have been experiencing high demand and rising rates ..read more

At the end of Q1 2024, the UK and EU economies moved back to growth, with manufacturing growing and new orders (PMI) accelerating to seven-month highs, with 2024 global GDP forecasts rising from 2.3% to 2.6%, as consumer confidence returns.  Situation summary After a tumultuous few weeks in the wake of the Red Sea crisis, some form of stability is returning, with the round-Africa routings now normalising and global schedule reliability climbing above 53%. Global air cargo demand remained solid in March, however, rates are soft in certain regions compared to last year’s levels, while Chin ..read more

All China ports are operating, while facing a variety of local COVID control measures and the prospect of lockdown with short notice. Some critical road infrastructure is not available and strict rules for the testing of drivers is limiting transport capacity in many areas, impacting operations and adding to costs in many regions. Weaker export demand and the ongoing lockdowns in the Shanghai region have weighed heavily on market sentiment over the last weeks and as vessel queues grew outside some Chinese ports, equipment imbalances have been anticipated as the length and magnitude of the loc ..read more

Supply chains continue to be challenged by the impacts of the COVID pandemic, which is why we have continued to focus on the provision of air, sea/air and sea freight services from Asia and the US for your time-sensitive and urgent shipments. As we move into the 2nd quarter of 2021, we are all hopeful that the vaccination roll-out will lead to a return to some sort normality, but until then, it looks like last years’ challenges will remain with us and intense competition for scarce vessel space and equipment, means that prices are likely to stay strong, even if demand subsides slightly. Ocean ..read more

Despite all the challenges today’s supply chains need to be resilient and flexible enough to take everything from weather disruption to war in their stride and because that means maintaining on-time delivery at the best possible price, we offer more options than traditional air and sea freight services may provide. Because time matters we work closely with our carriers and network partners to drive the reliability, security and efficiency of the services that carry our customers time-sensitive and high-priority consignments. Our door-to-door solutions reduce the cost of rapidly transporting e ..read more

Air freight rate indices suggest that prices may be stabilising and even rising on some routes and while the peak season failed to materialise this year, the market is definitely getting tighter, with lifts in global rates and tonnages after China’s Golden Week. Market data for the last two weeks of October showed a 1% and 4% increase in global tonnages, which reversed the drop triggered by China’s Golden Week holiday break. Trans-Pacific load factors were at 89% in the first half of October, which is close to peak pandemic levels and means that any sudden increase in demand will see space sq ..read more

The EU’s pre-arrival cargo information system (ICS) launched in 2011 to collect data for mail entering the EU and from the 1st  March 2023 pre-loading data will be required for air cargo, to better identify high-risk consignments and facilitate the cross-border clearance of legitimate trade. The new customs programme is underpinned by a large-scale advance cargo information system – Import Control System 2 (ICS2) which is part of an integrated EU approach to reinforce customs risk management under the common risk management framework (CRMF). The new system is designed to give EU customs ..read more

Despite seeing its cargo volumes fall by 16.4% year on year in 2022 to 4.2m tonnes Hong Kong International Airport (HKIA) retained its position as the world’s busiest cargo airport in 2022. Hong Kong’s achievement is all the more remarkable because it comes despite the impact of COVID restrictions on air crew, which hampered operations, particularly at flag carrier Cathay Pacific, which uses Hong Kong as its home hub. The restrictions resulted in the carrier having to massively reduce its freighter operations in the opening months of the year. However, other airports also suffered from slower ..read more

Our final freight market report of the year highlights key developments in air, sea and road freight, to keep you informed and to provide valuable supply chain insights, that will aid your decision making. Situation summary The spiking freight rates on all modes are falling away as falling volumes and demand slumps that have been so prevalent in recent months feed through and as transport prices return to relative stability in 2023, the market is expected to rebalance and recover with slow growth. But with so many uncertainties the market’s longer term growth prospects remain opaque. Ocean Fr ..read more

The first freight market update of the year and 2022 is starting very much as last year finished, with freight operations challenges and continuing demand for capacity. In a fluid and fast-moving situation the critical Chinese port of Ningbo has returned to normal operation, while trucking operations in Shenzhen and Tianjin are now facing interruptions, due to COVID testing of drivers. Ningbo has returned to normal operation Most other major ports and airports in the country are operating normally, although quarantine measures imposed on flight crew by the Hong Kong government, in response to ..read more